


From Amy, With Love

by reverseblackholeofwords



Series: Amy and the Egos [2]
Category: markiplier - Fandom
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-18
Updated: 2017-07-18
Packaged: 2018-12-03 19:51:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 12
Words: 9,911
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11539278
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/reverseblackholeofwords/pseuds/reverseblackholeofwords
Summary: After A Date with Darkiplier, Mark has no memories of Amy, and Wilford Warfstache has gone missing. Only Dark knows what has happened to them, and only Amy can save them. But at what cost?





	1. Whatever It Takes

**Author's Note:**

> This was originally posted on https://reverseblackholeofwords.tumblr.com

“Why doesn’t he remember me?”

“Simple, I took his memories of you.”

“Give them back.”

“Let me out of this cell.”

Amy lunges for Dark, but Google catches her. “You’ve done enough, Amy. You should be resting, not interrogating your attacker.”

“He’s taken Mark from me! And where’s Wilford?” she asks with a hiss. Amy stares at Dark like her gaze might burn right through. “What did you do with him?”

“He’s alive.” A trail of blood runs from the corner of Dark’s mouth down to his jaw where it drips onto his torn slacks. “That should be a comfort.”

Amy fights against Google’s hold, and the droid is growing impatient. “That’s enough, Amy! He won’t tell us anymore now!” He motions to Oliver who takes Amy and leads her out of the basement.

“Where are you taking me?” Amy doesn’t want to be mad at Oliver or even Google, but right now, she’s mad at everything.

“Where would you like to go? It would be inadvisable to be alone at this present time,” Oliver says eagerly. “Maybe I could take you home? Explain to the others what happened? The love of your friends would be beneficial at such a time as this.”

Amy shakes her head. She doesn’t want the others to know about this, not yet anyway. “Take me to see the Host. I want to ask him something.”

Oliver smiles and nods. “This seems acceptable!” The Host is waiting when the elevator arrives with a blanket draped over his arm and a cup of chamomile tea in hand. Oliver seems satisfied that Host has things covered and leaves the two of them alone.

“I knew you would be coming back, so I got together some things that I thought might comfort you…” Host nervously offers her the cup of tea. “Was I right to do this?”

Amy sets the cup aside and ducks her head. “Host, can I have a hug?” In answer, the Host wraps both the blanket and his arms around Amy’s shoulders. Up until this point, Amy hasn’t really allowed herself to cry, not when she wasn’t having a complete mental breakdown anyway. And the Host is so warm.

She sobs until she’s run fresh out of tears, and then she hiccups into his chest until the Host pulls away and pushes the cup of tea back into her hands. “Drink this, please,” he says softly.

Between sips of the soothing tea Amy asks, “Host, can you make me forget?”

Host seems confused by her question at first, but then he understands. “No, Amy. I—it just wouldn’t be right to do that.”

“I just want to forget this whole awful thing, and maybe if I forgot Mark too…” her voice trails off. Maybe if she forgot Mark and the Egos, maybe her heart wouldn’t be hurting so much right now. Maybe she wouldn’t be sitting on the floor of a blind man’s library sipping tea and sobbing into his trench coat. Maybe, maybe, maybe… “I saw what you did for the Doctor, how you made him relax. C-can you at least help me sleep?”

Host nods slowly. He helps her to her feet, leading her through the library to his room where he very seldom sleeps himself, and tucks her into his bed. “How about I tell you a story to help you sleep?” Amy nods, closes her eyes, and tries to relax.

“Once upon a time, there was a princess held captive in a tower by an evil sorcerer. The princess had many admirers, and they each loved her truly. However, none of them could best the sorcerer, and they fell into his traps one by one. So, in order to save her friends, the princess full of golden light, fought the dark sorcerer until finally he was beaten.”

Amy feels the words brushing over her mind like a warm, gentle breeze. It takes her back to the day in the park with Host when she told him about the clouds, and the flowers, and the trees. Slowly, her muscles relax, and Amy falls asleep with a pleasant smile on her lips. But the Host continues his story.

“When the evil sorcerer was defeated, the princess realized she had lost much, but one of her companions swore a promise to her. He would do whatever it took, no matter the cost, to bring those lost things back. So that they could all live happily ever after.”

With that, the Host steps quietly from the bedroom and heads for the basement.


	2. A Simple Sleight of Hand

Dark can feel the zip-ties around his wrists biting into the skin that has already been rubbed raw. When the light above his head flickers to life, he has to turn his head away. The brightness stings his eyes.

The cell door opens with a squawk, and the Host stands framed in a sickly light with nothing but shadows at his back. Dark blinks up at him, a smile playing across his lips. “Come to visit me, darling?”

The Host grips his hands at his sides. Dark’s aura, still weak from over-exertion, reaches towards him like a kitten batting at a string. It’s a useless endeavor, but the effort itself annoys Host. “I’m not here to flirt, Dark. I want you to tell me what you did to Mark and Wilford.”

Dark raises both eyebrows and tilts his head to the side. “Oh, is there a problem? I didn’t know.” He turns his nose up like he’s still in control, like he’s not bloodied and tied to a chair. “I’ve already made my position very clear. I only speak to Amy,” he says, singing her name on a sweet, ringing low note.

“Don’t make me do this, Dark. You know I’m not interested in controlling people.” The Host’s mind pulses with the memory of a gunshot. The last time he tried to control a person, it hadn’t ended well. The Host reaches back and scratches at the scar on his lower back. “Is it really worth all this just to hurt Mark?”

Dark’s shell cracks, but it saps him of his energy. He gasps. “Come on, Host. Have pity,” Dark sucks in a deep breath and tosses his head back, looking up at the ceiling. “I’ve always treated you fairly, haven’t I?”

“Beating me to find out more about Amy isn’t what I’d define as ‘fair,’ you insipid moron.” He refuses to lose his temper.

“I’m sorry. Did I hurt your feelings, Hosty?” Dark teases.

The Host rolls his shoulders and sighs. “Fine, we’ll do this your way, if you insist… Darkiplier feels the last of his energy leaving his body. He knows deep down that he should just listen to the Host and answer his questions.”

The Host watches Dark’s shoulders sag, and the gray ego looks down at the floor. “I took his memories of her. If there’s anyone that can help him recover, it’s Amy, his Liebling,” Dark spits.

“Answer me; can you give him the memories back?” Host takes a single step farther into the cell.

Dark wheezes a spine-chilling laughter. “Someone else is holding onto them for me.”

Host cocks an eyebrow like a gun. “Explain, now.”

“I-I won’t.” Dark shakes his head, and the Host can feel him fighting back. It should be impossible. Dark shouldn’t be able to hold himself up, let alone fight against the Host’s persuasion. “Please, Host. Everything I’ve done, I’ve done it for all of us. I just want to protect you.” He looks up at the Host with pleading eyes, and something in the other Ego’s heart twinges with pain. And he hates it, hates that Dark still has the power to make Host feel sorry for him.

“We never asked you to hurt Amy.” The Host uses that knowledge like a shield over his heart. No matter what Dark says, no matter what tricks he employs, the sight of Amy trembling and afraid won’t let the Host be fooled. “And Mark wants to help us.”

Dark sneers. “For how long? How long will he stoop to our level to appease the masses before those fickle children grow tired of us?” He smiles with a tilt of his head. “How long will Amy stick around before she grows bored of you?”

The Host grits his teeth. “Shut up!” Dark’s lips seal tight, and his eyes bulge in surprise. The Host touches his fingers gently to his ringing ears and curses himself for being so careless. He’s panting and shaking his head. “Amy isn’t like that.”

For once, Dark cannot answer.

Host leans against the wall. “Open your mouth and tell me what you’ve done with Mark’s memories and where you’ve put Wilford.”

Dark’s mouth unseals, and he licks his lips angrily. “I-I,” he bites his tongue, but he can’t stop himself from following the Host’s commands, “I put Mark’s memories in Wilford’s head. It was simple really, nothing but a trick of mind-bending, something you are well-versed in, my dear Host.”

The Host jumps in surprise, but Dark isn’t finished.

“Oh, and I don’t know where Warfstache is.” He blinks up at the Host and nods towards him. “Go ahead, you can tell, can’t you? Am I lying?”

The Host bites down hard on the inside of his cheek until he tastes blood. “No, unfortunately for once in your life, you aren’t lying.”


	3. Indebted

Amy wakes screaming. In her dream, she was still in that office with Dark, still forced to bend to his will in order to keep the others safe, and when she wakes, it’s like breaking through the surface of icy water. Reality comes crashing back, and she’s safe. But Wilford is gone, and Mark doesn’t even know her.

Someone comes bursting into the room. It’s Bim, not wearing his suit and looking too much like Mark. “Miss Amy! The Host told me to stay outside his room in case you needed anything, and I-I heard you yelling. So, I thought that maybe you…” Bim is cut off when Amy reaches up and pulls Bim onto the bed with her, wrapping her arms around him. “O-oh, I guess you want me to stay here with you?” Bim’s blushing like a stop sign.

“You told me something when you were under Dark’s control. You said that he owned you.” Amy pulls back from the hug and looks up at Bim. “What did you mean by that?”

Bim looks down at where his hands are folded in his lap with his fingers twiddling away. “Oh, um, I don’t know. It was probably just the aura talking.”

She doesn’t believe him. And Bim knows it.

“Dark, was the one that brought us all together, Amy. Before him, we were lost and wandering around on our own. From time to time, Mark might try to bring us into a video, but we were fading fast and…” Bim shudders at the thought of watching himself waste away, of not being able to control his own life. Even Mark had nearly forgotten him. He’d been so close… “When people forget about us, we die, Amy. Dark made sure that would never happen to us when he brought us here.”

“And for that, you’re indebted to him,” Amy finishes for him. As much as she hates Dark—and she really hates him—he brought the Egos back from the brink. He made them the heart and soul of the channel, and now they wouldn’t fade for a long, long time. “But that doesn’t mean that he owns you. You’re still Bim Trimmer.”

Bim shakes his head. “It’s not simple, nothing is. I’m Mark, but I’m not. I’m Bim, but I’m not. I’m an Ego, a figment of someone’s imagination made real. I’m not… human, not like I want to be.” He scoots away from Amy an inch. “I’ll always be dependent one someone else, and right now, that’s Dark. He keeps us alive, as terrible as he is.”

Amy bites her lip and nods. The whole situation is terrible. Mark couldn’t have known when he brought these characters to life that he’d be condemning them to this, and now, even he is paying the price for their creation. “Bim, I-,” but at that moment, Google flips the switch somewhere in the building. The alarms for a meeting go off, and Bim jumps to his feet faster than Amy can clamp her hands over her ears.

“We should go to the Board Room, see what’s up,” Bim says, taking her hand and helping her out of bed. “I’m sure they’ll want you there, too.”

Every Ego in the building, along with Amy, gather together in the Board Room. Those that have a seat sit while the others stand about, chatting amongst each other about a Full House Alarm and what it could mean. Two seats remain empty at either end of the table, and Amy is offered Will’s after a moment of awkward pause. She sits, and Google takes the floor.

“There have been some developments,” the droid says after everyone quiets down. “The Host has interrogated Dark,” that causes some murmurs and gasps, “and Host wants me to tell you that Mark’s memories of Amy have been stolen.” More gasps and murmurs but now there are stares in Amy’s direction. She feels her shoulders rising in an anxious attempt to make herself appear smaller. “They’ve been transplanted into Wilford’s mind, and we believe this may be the cause of his disappearance.”

Amy looks up immediately at the Host who is mumbling narrations to himself faster than she’s ever seen before. He doesn’t like being the center of attention, and it’s why he’s letting Google do all the talking. “Unfortunately, Dark has no idea where Wilford is. Until we find him, we cannot return Mark’s memories,” Google finishes.

The room erupts into shouts and bickering. Some of the Egos think they should leave well enough alone. Mark was never their friend, and Wilford got on their nerves anyway. Some of them think that they should immediately start arranging search parties. Others insist they should call the police, but Google silences them all with a loud shout.

The Host stands, balancing himself against the table carefully. “You all know what we are. You know that the police could never understand our situation, but you also know that Egos do not desert one another, no matter what.”

Host straightens himself, not leaning on the table any longer but standing like he isn’t afraid for once. “We will work together. We will find Wilford, and we will return Mark’s memories, if for no other reason than Amy is our friend. She’s been loyal to us. She faced Dark for us, and we cannot let that debt go unpaid.” He pauses a moment, and the room falls into complete and utter silence. “Are we in agreement?”

Amy looks around the room at them: the Googles, Ed, the King, Silver, Bim, Yandere, Dr. Iplier, and even Bing. There’s so many of them, and if they had a mind to, they could toss Amy out. And there would be nothing she could do to stop them, but instead, they all nod in agreement.

Host takes a deep breath and sighs. “Alright, then.” He turns to Amy. “Wilford has Mark’s memories of you. Is there anywhere you can think of that he might go? He’ll be confused and scared, so he’ll go somewhere that makes him feel safe.”

Amy thinks for a long time before the answer becomes clear. “I know where he might be.”

Host smiles reassuringly. “Then let’s go find Wilford Warfstache.”


	4. Finding Wilford

Amy knocks before entering the hospital room, and Mark is still in bed, resting. The color hasn’t quite returned to his face, yet. There’s still an IV in his arm, and it takes her back to the surgeries he’s had in the past, of waiting in other hospitals and watching clocks. He’ll have new scars now, she thinks to herself, and then crams that thought down as deep as it will go.

When Mark sees her, a sudden guilty realization crosses his pallid face. “Oh, you’re Amy. Dr. Iplier told me that you might come by.” His voice is strained, almost gone.

Amy presses her lips together and nods. “Yeah, we’re about to go look for Wilford, and I thought that I might swing by first, just to see how you were doing.”

“Warfstache? Is he missing?” Mark seems partially confused and partially concerned, either for Wilford or the general public. Amy can’t tell.

Amy slides her hands into the pockets of the Host’s pants that she’s borrowed and shrugs. “We have reason to believe that he has… some of your memories, and it may have made him very confused.”

“My memories of you,” Mark assumes correctly. His dark brown eyes melt a little. “I’m sorry, Amy. When Dark took them from me, I remember fighting as hard as I could, but…” His sentence descends into silence. A haunted look covers his face like a mask, and Amy feels guilty for bringing it up. She has to remember that she wasn’t the only person Dark hurt.

Amy turns to leave. “I should get going. The others will be waiting for me.”

“Wait,” he says, and her hand pauses on the doorknob because she doesn’t want to go. She doesn’t want to leave him, but this isn’t her Mark, not really. “They said that Dark had you, too. And even if I can’t remember you, I know that I cared about you, and this is my fault because I created him.” There’s tears in voice, and she doesn’t want to look at him to see if they’re on his cheeks, too. “I’m sorry, Amy. I’m so, so sorry.”

She knows. She can tell by the breaking in his voice that he means it, and he’s not just trying to please her because he knows he should. Because Mark feels things like jumping off a cliff, all at once with no chance of turning back.

Amy leaves before she starts crying again.

 

It’s late in the afternoon by the time they make it to the exact point in the desert Amy is looking for in Ed’s pick-up truck. She recognizes the spot all too well as the place where they filmed scenes for “A Date with Markiplier,” and she slows to a stop near a rock formation not too far away.

“This is where you think he’ll be?” Ed asks from the passenger’s seat.

“I found Mark out here one night, a couple of days after we finished filming out here. He said it was a nice, empty place to think. We’d been looking all over for him.” Idiot, she thinks, he’d left his phone at home and scared them all half to death. Now what she wouldn’t give for their worst problems to be a misplaced phone and a trip to the desert.

Amy, Ed, and the Googles get out of the truck, every eye searching the desolate landscape for Wilford. Amy cups her hands over her mouth, “WILFORD! WILFORD WARFSTACHE!”

There’s no answer.

“I suggest that we split up and search the large rock formation for signs of life,” Green offers. Google and Oliver join Amy in circling the rock clockwise while Green and Ed go around counterclockwise.

Amy gets ahead of the Googles, searching frantically up and down the rocks. Where was it that she found Mark that first time? They’d returned regularly after that, but something about the first time always struck Amy, the way she’d found him looking up at the stars. He’d always loved space, the dork.

Then someone grabs her arm. They spin her around, and Amy’s ready to fight. But a soft pair of lips meet hers, and a mustache tickles her nose. He tastes like bubblegum ice cream.

But he smells like blood.

Amy stumbles back, now covered in the sticky, scarlet substance, to see a rabid Warfstache breathing heavily and aiming a gun straight at her. Amy throws up her hands just as the shot rings out.


	5. Cloak and Dagger

A sickening twang! of metal on metal cuts through the air, and Amy looks up to see Oliver standing between her and Wilford, taking the bullet at point blank range. The droid sparks and sputters as the other Googles rush to detain Wilford who has gone catatonic. Oliver drops to his knees, and Amy rushes to catch him.

“Oli, no no no.” Amy can’t believe one more person is hurt because of her.

The yellow of Oliver’s eyes flickers, and the droid coughs, oil leaking from the hole in his chest. “I-it’s o-o-okay, Am-my.”

Green crouches beside Amy, assessing the damage done. “It’s reparable, but we’ve got to get him back quickly.”

Ed and Green carry Oliver back to the truck, one of the droid’s arms slung over each of their shoulders, while Google pins Wilford to the ground. “Google, the blood… is it his?”

The droid’s blue eyes flicker over Wilford’s frame. “There’s no way of telling at this point. We’ll take him to the Doctor and let him determine Wilford’s state.”

Silver moonlight glints off the gun, tossed to the side when the Googles tackled Wilford, and Amy reaches over to pick it up. When she does, Wilford seems to come back to himself. “Amy? What happened?”

Amy quickly hides the gun behind her back. “Wilford, you’re alright?” It comes out as more of a question than she intended.

Will’s eyes bulge like he’s just starting to remember where he is and what’s been going on. Then there’s a flash, a sudden change, and he’s unresponsive all over again. Google pulls Wilford to his feet, and he and Amy walk the bloody Ego back to the truck. “He goes in the back,” Ed demands, not wanting to get stains all over the upholstery. They’ve already got Oliver laid out across the back seat with a towel pressed to his chest.

“You sit with Oliver,” Google suggests to Amy. “I’ll stay in the back with Wilford and make sure he doesn’t hurt himself… or anyone else.” Though Amy hates to leave Warfstache in such a state, there’s no one she trusts more to be able to handle him than Google.

“Thank you, Googs,” she whispers with a quick kiss on his cheek before she hops into the back, placing Oliver’s head gently in her lap. The droids exchange a glance that Amy can’t read before Google hauls himself and Wilford into the bed of the truck.

Ed guns it in the direction of Ego Inc. as Amy stares out the window at the canopy of stars.

 

The Host leans his head against the bars of Dark’s cell and smiles. “You’re going to lose. I’ve just received word from the others that they’ve found Wilford and they’re bringing him back now.”

“Yes, and you’ll be able to return Mark’s memories and save the day.” Dark inclines his head toward the Host. “You know what that means, don’t you?”

It’s not the reply that the Host was expecting. He’d come down here to throw his victory in Dark’s face, not have the double-crossing Ego toss it back like a dirty rag. “What do you mean?” Host asks in a gravelly tone, his voice still minutely strained from having Dark’s hands clamped around his throat.

“Don’t you get it? With me out of the way, Wilford will take control of the entire operation. It’ll be his hands you’ll be placing your life in, not to mention the others’ lives as well.” Dark shakes his head with a pained expression on his face, as though he pities the Host. Dark has never pitied anyone or anything in his life. “He is the most powerful of you all, I’ll give him that. But Warfstache is careless and sloppy. He won’t be able to handle the power.”

The Host thinks back to the mess of Markiplier TV, Wilford’s project to gain the Egos more control over the channel. It had gotten the fandom hopping, but his efforts were misguided. He was more interested in promoting himself than the Egos as a whole.

“And,” Dark continues, “once you return Mark’s memories, he’ll very likely take Amy away from here. I can’t imagine he’d want her to come back after all that’s happened.”

The Host’s temper flares. “You mean after what you did to her?”

“After what you let me do to her,” Dark spits back. “Any one of you could’ve stopped me if you’d had the spine. But you didn’t have one then and you don’t now. You’re going to let Wilford Warfstache ruin all the progress we’ve made towards securing all of our futures, and you’re going to let that idiot Mark take Amy away from you. How pathetic can you possibly be?” Dark composes himself once again and shrugs. “Fine, you’ve always been good at playing the doormat, so keep up the good work, Hosty.”

The Host flinches. His hand comes up to tug at his bandages, a nervous tick he thought he’d dropped when Amy showed him he had nothing to be ashamed of. In his nervousness and deep thought, the Host begins to subconsciously narrate,

“Dark is wrong about the Host. The Host is more powerful than any of the others know. He just doesn’t flaunt it like Dark or Wilford or even Bim, who’d do anything to impress. The Host can help the Egos attain their goal. He can lead.” Host walks away from the cell and towards the elevator.

“And he is going to show them all.”


	6. Kiss or Kill

They burst into the clinic as the Doctor is changing Mark’s bandages. Google rushes to his floor of the building to retrieve any necessary parts for Oliver while the others get Wilford into a hospital bed. The front of his shirt is drenched in drying blood, and he’s mumbling to himself, things that don’t make sense.

Amy and Ed help the hysterical Ego out of his shirt as the Doctor finishes with Mark and rushes to aid them. Dr. Iplier takes a moment to look Wilford over before proclaiming, “The blood isn’t his. I can’t find any wounds that would result in this much bleeding.” And Amy doesn’t know whether to feel relieved or sick. “What happened when you found him?”

“H-he kissed me,” Amy explains, trying to remember everything exactly as it happened. “But then, he tried to shoot me. Oliver jumped in the way just in time and took the bullet for me.” Amy’s voice is wavering again, but she absolutely refuses to cry right now. “If Wilford isn’t hurt, I’d really appreciate it if you helped Google with Oli.”

Dr. Iplier takes one more look at Wilford, tossing and turning against the restraints they’ve had to use, and nods slowly. “Okay, Amy. If he gets too out of hand, let me know, and I can give him something to help him sleep.” The Doctor takes a moment to look her over, note the bags under her eyes and the way her hands are shaking constantly. “You might want to think about getting some rest, too.”

Amy shakes her head and takes Wilford’s hand without looking back at the Doctor. “Not until we have this all sorted out.”

The Doctor knows not to argue with a determined Amy, so he goes to find where they’ve put Oliver. Amy sits down on the bed beside Wilford once Dr. Iplier is gone. She takes a wet cloth from the bedside table and places it on Will’s forehead, hoping to calm him. “Wilford, can you hear me?”

Warfstache takes a deep breath, breaking through the surface of the chaos crashing around in his brain. “Amy, where are you?” His eyes meet hers, and the onslaught of emotion behind them nearly knocks Amy over. “Mark’s memories—I can’t tell which are mine anymore.” Wilford tries to reach for her but finds his wrists tied down with restraints. “P-please, Amy let me go. I’ve got to find a way to make this stop. Make it stop…” He thrashes around against the restraints, and Amy presses down on his shoulders so that he won’t hurt himself.

“Please, Wilfy. Stop this!” Amy doesn’t want him to be sedated. She has to know what’s happened to him. “Tell me what I can do.”

“Nothing,” Wilford gasps, “You can’t do anything. This is Dark.” He winces, fighting against the competing urges to kiss and kill her. Maybe if she were dead, this all would stop, but he could never hurt her. Could he? “Mind-bending—it’s what some Egos can do, bend the way people perceive reality, allowing us to get around the laws of physics. Some of us are stronger than others,” Wilford stops thrashing and falls deathly still, his final words drift away into an inaudible whisper, “like me and Dark and the Host. Only one of us could do this.” His lips press together.

“Wilford?” Amy asks, searching his face frantically for signs of life.

He blinks at the ceiling again and takes a few deep breaths. “You’ve got to get these memories out of my head. The way I am now, I might kill you.” Wilford looks at her again, and Amy knows he means it. She nods. Wilford looks away. “You should go.”

“No,” Amy says simply, and Wilford flinches. “I’m not leaving you until we fix this. I have to make sure you’re alright.” She can tell she’s losing him again to that strange catatonic state between the mania and reason.

Wilford begins whimpering and mumbling to himself again. When Amy can no longer get him to speak to her, she watches over him instead. The Host steps in a few minutes later, looking bashful and sweet as always. Amy reaches for him, and the blind Ego wraps her in a gentle hug, narrating softly to himself.

“Host, please tell me you know how to fix this. You can reverse what Dark did, can’t you?” She leans into him, letting herself relax just a bit.

The Host takes a deep breath and ceases to narrate. “Dark told me what he did to them, how he caused it. It’s a form of mind-bending that is very complex. I-I can’t reverse it.”

Amy looks up at him in shock. “No, you have to! We have to make things right, Host!” She grabs the collar of his trench coat in her fists.

The Host shakes his head. “I can’t. I’m not as powerful as Dark, no matter how hard I try.”

“S-so what will we do?” Amy rests her head against the Host’s chest.

The Host runs a tentative hand over Amy’s hair and whispers, “Don’t worry, Amy, I’ll take care of you.”


	7. Cooperation is Key

“They brought Wilford back.” Host gnaws on his bottom lip and leans his forehead against the cell door.

Dark takes a deep breath and sighs. “And you returned Mark’s memories, saving the day. Come now, Host. You should feel good about yourself. After all, you did the right thing.”

Host tastes blood and keeps biting harder until, “I didn’t do it.”

“Come again?” Dark leans forward, relishing this moment.

“I didn’t give his memories back!” The Host turns away from Dark and feels his shoulders hunch forward in shame. He can’t believe what he’s done. He lied to Amy, right to her face. He made her cry. She was heartbroken.

It’s like he wasn’t even controlling what he was saying…

Dark leans back again, puffing out his chest and smiling. “Oh, Host, Host, Host. What have you done?”

The Host flinches. Those were the same words Dark had begun with when he’d tortured him for information about Amy, for going against Dark’s explicit orders not to befriend her. The Host had disobeyed Dark, and he’d known it. Amy made him feel special and loved, and it had blinded him.

“I don’t know what to do, Dark,” Host whimpers, clutching the cell’s bars like he’s holding onto a lifeline.

The other Ego’s gray aura reaches out for Host. “You know what you have to do. You just need to let me in…”

“No!” Host shakes off the aura and sneers. “I can go back. I can tell Amy I was wrong, that I can switch the memories back!”

Dark chuckles. “And then she’ll know you lied to her. You’ll break her trust, Host, and then she’ll leave you just the same.” Dark clicks his tongue a few times. “You’re going to need a better plan than that.”

Host feels himself begin to panic. He can’t keep his thoughts straight anymore. He shouldn’t be here, shouldn’t be listening to Dark and his pretty words. They’re messing with his mind. “I-I could make you do it.”

Dark nods like he’s listening to the foolish plans of a child, “You could, but then you’d lose everything. You’d lose Amy and your newfound control over the others…”

“I-I don’t control them,” Host argues weakly.

“Who convinced them to work together to bring Wilford back? Who gained their trust and their loyalty with one glittering speech about sticking together and the power of friendship,” Dark teases. “That was you, Host. They’re willing to follow your ever word now. How does that feel? How does it feel to have that power again? It’s been quite a long time…” Dark tries once more, reaching out with his aura for the Host’s trembling frame.

“H-how do you know about that?” Host wracks his mind. Dark couldn’t have known about the meeting, but who would’ve told him?

“Just let me in again, Host. Let me help you, and I can give you everything you want,” Dark practically sings to him.

Host’s breath catches in his throat. “N-no,” but his confidence is wavering.

“You can’t do it alone,” Dark croons. “You need me.” The gray aura wraps around Host like a boa constrictor encircling its prey.

“Host?”

The Host gasps, turning around to find Bim Trimmer standing just outside the elevator. He hadn’t heard him come in. The Host straightens his trench coat self-consciously and smiles. “What is it, Bim?”

Bim takes a nervous step forward. “I-um… What are you doing down here?”

Host folds his hands together behind his back carefully. “That’s not important. What are you doing down here, Bim?”

Bim seems to suddenly remember his purpose, and he rushes forward. “Host, I’ve been practicing my mind-bending abilities lately, really working hard at it, and I think that maybe I could try to give Mark his memories back!” He looks so excited, so eager. This could be the answer, Host thinks.

"No," the voice isn’t real. It’s in Host’s head, echoing and ringing and laughing all at once. "No, Host. Tell him he can’t. He isn’t powerful enough yet."

“No,” Host hears himself saying, “you aren’t powerful enough yet, Bim.” The doesn't stop, "Tell him that he just has to trust you. That you know what’s best. Tell him… cooperation is key."


	8. The Author

Amy awakes with a crick in her neck. She’s fallen asleep in a chair in Mark’s hospital room, and during the night, someone placed a blanket over her. Amy suspects it was most likely the Doctor. She rubs the sleep form her eyes and looks around. Mark is still asleep. He’s been resting on and off since he woke up, but the Doctor refuses to let him leave until they’ve gotten his memories back. Now that Host has determined he cannot reverse what Dark has done, she doubts Mark will ever be the same.

Amy gently brushes Mark’s hair from his eyes, that ridiculous floof was always falling down in his face. He looks like a child when sleeping, helpless and innocent, and it breaks her heart to think that he may never look at her the same way again. Amy swallows hard and steps out, running to Wilford’s room to check on him.

She barely gets inside the door when Dr. Iplier hears her scream from his office. He rushes to find her on the floor of Wilford’s room. “He’s gone!” The Doctor looks at the bed to find the restraints cut and Wilford’s dagger cast to the side.

 

The other Egos are gathered in the Board Room. Google and Green have returned from repairing Oliver who is resting upstairs, but it is the Host who stands in Dark’s place at the head of the table. “Fellow Egos,” Host speaks gently, “I am in the awkward position of having to inform you that our friend Wilford Warfstache may be permanently disabled. You see, his psyche, never very stable to begin with, has been marred by the memories of Amy that Dark has taken from Mark. It seems, unfortunately, that Wilford will no longer be able to help us in achieving our… goal.”

“You refer to our primary objective,” Google states. “Is that objective still relevant at this time? Surely we have gained Mark and Amy’s attention. They will help us to remain functional. Amy would not allow us to fade.”

Host smiles at the droid and shakes his head. “No, I’m afraid that Mark will come to resent all of us for what Darkiplier has done to him, and Amy no longer has any control over Mark or his channel because of Mark’s… amnesia.”

Ed slams his fist down on the table. “Then, who will be in charge? Dark and Wilford were always our leaders before. They kept each other in line, so what’ll we do now?”

“I believe,” Host croons, “that I should take their place. I am, of course, the most powerful Ego remaining. I can provide for you all as needed.”

A shiver runs down Bim’s spine. Something isn’t right here. The Host is behaving like… well, like Dark, and after what Bim saw in the basement… “No, Host. I don’t think that’s the best idea,” Bim speaks up.

The Host’s face falls into an angry snarl, but before he can speak, Google adds, “Besides, I believe that I could be some use in leading the remaining Egos. I have a certain level of objectivity that I believe you do not possess, Host.”

“Yeah,” Silver jumps in, “Who died and made Host the leader?”

“No one here is a king, Host,” Bim says softly. “Well, except King of the Squirrels…” King smiles happily from his spot on the floor and goes back to applying his peanut butter beard to his face—oblivious to everything going on around him.

Host straightens his trench coat and rolls his neck. “I don’t believe you understand. I’m the most powerful Ego, and I deserve this position. And Google is limited by his programming.”

The Host leans his hands against the table. “You see, cooperation is key. Working together and believing in one another… that’s essential. That’s the thing you need to learn about this agreement we have.” Host straightens up, Dark’s gray aura swirling in his mind. "That’s it," it says to him, "Why just be a Host, watching life go by and narrating? Grab the reigns again. Write your own destiny. Be the Author."

“So,” Host continues, “what we are going to do is we are going to stay here in this room for however long it takes for you to learn to cooperate!” The gray aura extends from the Host and swirls around the others. The Egos try to resist, but Host’s words dull their senses. Dark feels them giving in. “Ok? Alright.”

“Watch it, Hosty. That’s exactly how you lost your eyes,” Wilford hits Host over the head with a bat. Host slumps onto the floor with a sickening thud, and Dark’s aura disappears from the room. “Sorry about that, old friend.” Wilford grips the bat, fighting the urge to keep going. He can barely control himself anymore, but he sensed Dark’s aura on the Host when he’d spoken to Amy in his hospital room.

And he wasn’t going to let Dark control his friend. Not again. Not after what happened last time.

The other Egos blink away the remaining aura, and Wilford crouches down beside the Host, checking his pulse. Google jumps to his feet. “Wilford? The Host…” Google’s synthetic voice cracks in pain. Oliver isn’t around to manage his emotions.

“He didn’t know… He didn’t know what he was doing. Host would’ve never let this happen again. This was Dark, all Dark.” Wilford looks up at Google with fire blazing in his eyes, and Google has never seen the Ego so enraged. “I’m going to kill him for this.”

(Most of the Host’s *the Author’s* dialogue from this part comes from Cyndago’s video with Mark “Danger in Fiction; Chapter Two.”)


	9. Wilford Snaps

Google tries but fails to stop him in his blind rampage, but the droid can only do so much when Wilford Warfstache begins to warp the building around him in blurs of pink and cream. The ceiling is the floor. The walls bend like they’re made of Jello. Everything Wilford touches bends out of place.

This is what it must be like inside Warfstache’s mind.

Amy feels the floor buck beneath her feet, and at first, she thinks “earthquake” before she sees the rush of vibrant color and knows, “It’s Wilford.” Dr. Iplier pulls her out of the other Ego’s path and shakes his head when she tries to chase after him.

“I’ve only seen him like this once before, after he found out about what Dark did to the Host’s eyes. You don’t want to get in his way,” warns Dr. Iplier in the same voice he uses when he tells someone they’re dying. “This isn’t going to be good.”

“I have to help him,” Amy cries, but the Doctor is still holding her back, a hand wrapped around each of her wrists.

“No, Amy, please! You don’t need to see this! He wouldn’t want you to!” The Doctor pulls her around so she’s looking at him, and she can see how desperate he is to make her understand. “You’ve got to leave this to us, Amy. Go take care of Mark, and we’ll handle Wilford.”

Amy searches his face, and she knows that it’s the right thing to do. “Ok, just promise me he’ll be alright.”

Dr. Iplier nods. “Somehow, we’ll fix this.”

With that, he leaves her, and Amy runs back to Mark’s hospital room. On the way, she notices that all the walls have moved around. The second floor has merged with the third, and time seems to be standing still. Broken shards of random objects float suspended in the air. Nothing moves outside the windows within a mile-wide radius. Wilford’s power is far more immense than Amy ever realized.

 

Dark senses Wilford coming even before the elevator explodes.

Wilford has always been a loose cannon, using his abilities for solely selfish purposes, but from time to time, when Dark gets too far out of line…

The elevator’s doors blast open in a shower of glitter, and Wilford Warfstache strides into the basement in a raucous pink fury. “DARK!”

His voice strikes fear all the way down to Dark’s core, but he can’t flee. He’s stuck in this cell, stuck in the path of an oncoming storm, and he knows there’s hell to pay.

 

Mark’s room warps around him, and the injured man, unable to flee, is forced to watch it happen. A filing cabinet drops through the ceiling landing inches away from his head, and then Amy appears, battling against floating debris to get to him. She’s bleeding from a wound to her head.

“Amy, watch out!”

She barely misses getting crushed by a bookshelf from the library somewhere above. Amy scrambles to her feet and finally reaches Mark, climbing onto the bed beside him and clinging to him for dear life. Mark tucks her underneath him, shielding her from the torrent of insanity that seems to be ripping its way through the building.

“Don’t worry. It’s going to be alright,” he says in her ear over the roar of chaos and shattering reality.

 

The Googles reach him first, and there’s blood everywhere. Dark is screaming, and Wilford screams louder, angrier with a thousand insults and a thousand promises that Dark will never do this again. Because Wilford isn’t just doing it for himself. He has Mark’s memories, too.

He’s fighting for both of them.

Dark hurt Amy, their Amy, and he’s hurt Host for the last time. The basement pitches and swings around within Wilford’s void—his own candy-coated horror. They manage to pull Wilford off of Dark, what’s left of him, and Dr. Iplier fights to get a needle in Wilford’s neck in time to keep his heart from exploding with the sheer force of power he’s employing.

When Wilford goes limp, the building snaps back into place, time restarts, and everyone is left blinking colored spots out of their vision. The air is tainted with the smell of bubblegum and blood.

 

Amy continues to cling to Mark long after the danger has faded, crying into his chest, and he doesn’t know this girl. But she’s stronger than he ever could be, and Mark isn’t letting go of her any time soon.


	10. Safe

Mark continues to hold Amy even when the Egos appear in the doorway of his hospital room looking bashful and ruffled and like they’re boys come home from playing outside and they’ve just broken the neighbor’s window.

Mark can’t tell whether it’s muscle memory or pure paranoia, but he still hasn’t let go of the trembling girl with the golden hair that’s curled herself around him. Instead, he tucks his head into the space between her neck and her shoulder and sighs with relief that the world has officially stopped ending now. And she’s safe.

When Amy finally detaches herself from Mark, apologizing profusely because he still has no real idea who she is, the Egos gasp to see half her face is covered in blood. There’s a mild panic until the Doctor informs them that it’s simply a cut, nothing a few stitches won’t fix.

Mark watches the entire affair, the way the Egos’ eyes follow Amy’s every sleepy move. The way Wilford is hiding his hands behind his back, blood still stuck under his fingernails and in the creases of his palms. The way Google keeps nervously tap-tap-tapping on every available surface as Dr. Iplier stitches up the wound. The way Ed Edgar hasn’t said a word. The way Bim Trimmer won’t look up, but the tears fall straight down to the floor in little raindrops.

They love her, he thinks to himself, and I can’t even remember her name.

He gets out of bed. They’re too distracted to notice him, and he stumbles into the clinic, garbed in a hospital gown and his underwear. The Host is in the room next to his, so Mark goes in there, leaning against the wall for support. He remembers the Host, remembers the Author before Dark got to him. There’s fresh bandages around his eyes and a new one pressed to his head, and Mark can’t tell whether he’s awake or not.

“Mark enters the room cautiously, but the Host does not mind his quiet presence. The Host regrets all that he’s done and wants Mark to understand that he only acted out of fear of losing Amy.” The Host presses his lips together. “That is a lie. Host also lost control of himself. He let Dark in. He let his old nature cause him to make bad decisions, and he regrets that, too.” He swallows back tears that can’t come. “The Host wishes for Mark’s forgiveness. He wishes very much.”

“Host, I understand.” Mark bites his lip and sighs. He’s never been good with words, not in situations like this. Not when he needs them and they really count. “I’ve lost a battle or two to Dark myself.”

“The Host is going to fix everything. He can return Mark’s memories to him, his memories of Amy.” Host points towards the other room. “If Mark will bring Wilford Warfstache to the Host, he will do it right now.”

Mark shakes his head. “You should rest first…”

“No,” Host interjects. “Please, the Host wishes more than anything to make things right. He will not be able to rest until he does this for Mark and Amy.” The Host tries to sit up, but Mark stops him, gently placing his hands on the other man’s shoulders.

“Alright, I’ll go get him, ok? Just stay still.” Mark takes a step backwards, and the Host relaxes. Mark rushes, as quickly as he can, back to his own room where they’ve finished with Amy. She steps towards the door and stops when she sees him standing there. Her tired eyes search his, and Mark remembers only the way she fought to get to him, the way she clung so tightly to him, the way she looked so heartbroken when he told her he couldn’t remember who she was. He wants more than that, and he knows that there is more, if only the Host can do what he claims he can.

“The Host says he can give me back my memories now.” Mark looks past Amy to Wilford. “He just needs both of us together.”

Amy blinks up at him, confused. “B-but Host told me that he couldn’t do that. He said he wasn’t powerful enough to reverse what Dark had done to you.” She turns and looks at the other Egos who stare at each other or the ground, anything but look Amy in the eyes. “What? What aren’t you telling me? Wilford? Google?”

Bim is the one to finally speak up, wiping the tears from his eyes. “Dark got to him. Host lied to you because he didn’t want to lose you, and when he realized what he’d done… Dark knew just how to twist him. I should’ve known when I found them in the basement together.”

Amy doesn’t cry. She doesn’t scream. She doesn’t even speak. She brushes past Mark and heads for Host’s room, and when she walks in, the Host is already in the middle of narrating a hundred apologies through the nervous hiccups and gasps for air. “Please, don’t hate the Host. He was weak and afraid, and he didn’t know what to do…”

Amy doesn’t speak at first. She just wraps her arms around his neck and then shushes him gently. “Listen to me.”

The Host whimpers but stops talking.

“It’s alright, Host. I’m not angry at you, but please, don’t ever feel like you have to lie to me.” Even though there aren’t tears, Amy can feel the Host crying into her shoulder. “It’s alright. I promise, we’re safe now.”


	11. Two Stars in the Night

“Are you ready?” Host asks after they’ve all had a chance to rest—Doctor’s orders. He’s gathered the necessary parties into his room in the clinic and has them sit down so they can finally put this nightmare to an end.

Mark glances over at Amy who sits in the chair in the corner with her legs curled against her chest and a blanket around her shoulders. The way the light glints in through the window makes her blonde hair glow, and Mark adds this small memory to his growing list. “I’m ready.”

Wilford runs a hand through his pink hair and looks down at his lap. “I-I’m ready, too.” It hurts to look at Amy, to see her a thousand different times through Mark’s eyes, the way only a lover could. Wilford loves Amy, but he could never love her the way Mark does. “Let’s get this over with already.”

The Host takes a deep breath and begins to speak. “Wilford feels his mind begin to slow. All the scattered pieces of the kaleidoscopic void calm to a stand-still.” Wilford visibly relaxes, his head leaning back a few inches. “Light shines in, like sunlight through the leaves, and his memories are divided. It becomes clear which memories truly belong to him and which memories belong to Mark.”

Amy feels her heart begin to flutter inside her chest, but she doesn’t allow herself to hope. Not yet.

“Wilford must release his hold on these memories, letting the breeze carry them away from him.” Host waits a moment before Will sighs softly, and he then continues, moving on to Mark. “Mark feels his own mind settle. The torrent of emotions and recent events slow and stop. Mark feels himself relax.”

Amy watches Mark’s shoulders drop minutely, the way they do after a long day of recording when he drops onto the couch beside her and Chica. The Host takes another deep breath, and Amy can see the sweat on his brow. This is taking more out of him than he’s letting on.

“The memories come back slowly. Amy’s name, her voice, the way she walks, the color and shape of her eyes. Mark begins to recall, the memories drift back in on a tide.” Host pauses, and Amy leans in. The entire room is so silent it’s deafening. “Their first meeting, their first kiss, once they start coming, the memories connect and overlap and intertwine, and finally, Mark remembers.”

Mark’s hands flutter like startled birds, but he doesn’t open his eyes, not yet. The Host isn’t quite finished. “The memories settle, safe and secure once more, and they will never be taken again.” Host feels the effort of returning the memories sap his energy, but he’s determined to make it work. “Wilford and Mark awake, and th-the Host wishes to rest n-now.”

Mark and Wilford’s eyes open slowly, and Amy stands, the blanket around her shoulders dropping to the floor, utterly forgotten. When Mark looks around the room, his eyes settle on Amy. She holds herself there for a moment, and she’s frozen because she can’t take losing him again. She can’t take another moment of his eyes on her and not really seeing her, not seeing his Amy.

But Mark is on his feet in an instant and running at her, and he scoops her up into his arms and spins her around. “Liebling, my Liebling, oh, my Amy. I’m so, so sorry,” Mark cries, pulling her against him and remembering the way they fit together so perfectly. How could he have forgotten this? “I’d rather die than lose you again.”

It all comes flooding back, and Mark has to remind himself to breathe. All the good things along with all the bad things, the idea of Amy in Dark’s hands, and it makes him nearly fall over. He won’t ever let it happen again.

Amy, her fists full of his shirt and her heart bursting over and over, is so glad to have him here and whole again that she can’t even speak. He’s warm, and he’s safe. And she won’t let go of him again as long as she lives. She’s crying again, but this time she doesn’t care because his lips are there at her temple and along her cheekbones to kiss all the tears away. He doesn’t let a single one of them fall.

Wilford steps over to the Host’s side and places a hand on his friend’s shoulder. “You did it, Hosty.”

The Host nods a little. He’s never sensed anything—not Dark’s anger or Will’s chaos—quite as strong as Mark and Amy’s love, both of them together and shining like stars. It’s clear to him that no matter what Dark had thrown at them, they would’ve found each other in the end. They would’ve come to this point right here.

Amy, still holding Mark’s hand, joins Wilford beside the Host. She places her other hand on the Host’s cheek so that he can know what she wants to say without her having to say it. She can’t seem to find the words.

“The Host knows you have to go away now,” he says softly, and his bottom lip quavers just slightly. “But he knows you’ll be back again to see him.”

Amy nods and presses a few salty kisses to his cheek. “Yes, I’ll be back, but you won’t be alone.” Amy glances up at Wilford. “You won’t ever be alone.”


	12. Epilogue

Dear Boys,

 

I know it’s been a while since I’ve been by Ego Inc., but Mark and I decided to take some time to be alone together after everything that happened. I’m sure you guys will understand.

Mark is taking me to this awesome place in the desert for my birthday! I’m so excited, but I hate that I won’t be able to see you guys. Yes, I’ve received all your presents in the mail already, and I’m still not sure how you got the post office to ship that giant stuffed alien. But I’m not complaining.

Tell Wilford that I appreciate the pink “letter opener,” and I will use it to open many “letters.” I feel like a real Peebstache now. Tell Host that I’m taking the books he sent on the trip with me, and I plan on reading them to Mark while he drives. Oh, and make sure Bim knows that the little cactus he sent me is perfectly healthy and currently sitting in my bedroom window. I’ve named him Bimmy. Aren’t I creative?

Mark says hi. He’s been brainstorming new ways to integrate you guys into the channel, and I think it’s been good for him to have something to distract him. He still gets nightmares. Host, I think you might want to talk to him when we get back. (But don’t tell him I told you about it. He’s too proud to admit when he needs help sometimes.)

Me? I’m just the same. You can’t even see the stitches because of my hair, and the wound is healing up nicely. Don’t worry. Hey, I can feel you worrying right now. Quit it. I don’t often get nightmares anymore, and when they do come, I remind myself that I’ve got like a dozen big brothers making sure that I’m safe.

Wilford text me that you muzzled Dark? Whose idea was that? Because they deserve a gold star, and I want pictures.

Speaking of pictures, I’ll be sure to take plenty of them while we’re on the trip with the camera the Doctor sent me! I’m really excited to be a pile of hipster trash and take lots of pretty Polaroids to bring back to you. For the Host, I’ve brought along a notebook, and I’m going to attempt to write about everything that I see so that I can read it to you when I come back.

I love you guys. Please try to get along while I’m gone. I’d really appreciate it if you are all in one piece when I come back.

And I can’t thank you enough for everything you did for me and Mark. I thought that I should let you know, Mark doesn’t know how to tell you guys how sorry he is for letting Dark control you for as long as he did. This nightmare was one hell of a wake-up call. Mark wants to make things right. That’s why he was at Ego Inc. in the first place that day, and if you’ll give him a chance, he wants to help you.

Well, I hear Mark calling me now, so this letter will have to end here. Ed, I have no idea where you got trained carrier pigeons from, but it’s awesome. I hope it works. I hope you get this. I’ll be back soon; I promise.

 

From Amy, with love.


End file.
